You Are My Hope
by Julie Anna T
Summary: He is a criminal, she is a high school girl with CF. She is his brother's best friend and his chance of happiness... well, he just doesn't know it yet.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Bates Motel or any of its characters, and I'm not getting any money by writing this fanfiction either; this is just for fun.**

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**You Are My Hope**

_by percico-feels_

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**Chapter I: A Quiet Start**

Emma is working at the motel on the night shift, covering for Norma, who is out on a date. She does not know where Norman is, but she is used to staying by her own on the motel already, so she does not mind it. And, besides, is a quiet night. Nothing is happening and, by 9 PM, most of the families is already preparing to bed.

That is when he arrives.

She sees, through the office window, when Dylan parks his truck in front of the motel and gets out of the car; he is visibly limping and that is enough to make Emma realize that something might be wrong.

Taking her O2 tank, she steps out of the office. Dylan is already by the steps to the house.

"Dylan!" she calls, startling him a bit.

He stops on his tracks for a moment, his body stiffening and tensed up. On the poor light of the lamppost, Emma can barely see Dylan properly; the shadows hiding him slightly, but she does not approach him.

"Your mom is not home, nor is Norman" she states "Do you need anything?"

He turns to face her and takes a few steps towards the girl. Emma can't help but gasp in surprise. He has a large ugly cut on the eyebrow and, thanks to that, part of his face is covered in blood, as well as his shirt. His lip is split and there is a purple bruise on his jaw.

"What the hell happened to you?" Emma asks, hurrying to reach him.

"Where's Norma?" he asks, ignoring her previous question.

"She's out on a date. At George Helden's I think."

He seems to relax a bit after the girl's answer.

"What happened to you?" she asks again and now she is less than three steps from him.

Her gaze is intense and she is determined to get an answer from him, although she suspects she knows exactly what happened to him.

"A business meeting went wrong" he answers shortly.

Just as she thought.

His blue eyes stare straight on her chocolate brown ones, as if challenging her of asking anything else. She doesn't, but just because the way he's looking at her makes it clear that he will not answer if she asks.

"Okay" she nods, and clearing her throat, she adds "So, let's get inside. You need to clean this cut before it gets infected."

She tries to reach for his arm, but he retracts, stepping away.

"This is nothing. I'm good."

"That's not what it looks like" she insists.

"I've been worse, you don't need to do this."

She sighs. His hesitation on accepting her help does not surprise Emma, she was actually expecting that. The two of them are not really friends, but she can't let him leave beaten up like that, can she?

"You're limping, Dylan. Don't be stubborn, it will only take a minute."

She is calling him stubborn, but she is just as stubborn as he is, Dylan notices. For a frail skinny teenage girl with CF, Emma sure doesn't seem to mind the fact that she's talking to one of the town's biggest criminals. Dylan likes that.

"You won't leave me alone if I don't go with you, will you?" he asks.

"No, but I can't stop you if you decide to leave the motel like this. Your car is better than mine, it's not like I can chase after you, or anything."

He chuckles in amusement, but stops immediately when his split lip starts stinging again.

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She returns a few seconds later bringing a first aid kit with her. Dylan is sitting on one of the armchairs at Norma's office, so Emma puts the first aid kit on the table and pulls a chair in front of him. Using a piece of gauze, Emma first cleans all traces of blood on Dylan's face, then focuses on disinfecting the open wound on his eyebrow.

He hisses in pain and pulls away instinctively, when she applies some antiseptic on the cut.

"Sorry" Emma says quickly, before continuing her task, this time more carefully.

"It's okay."

He watches her as the girl works silently for a while; her hands gentle not to hurt him even more.

"So, you wanna tell me how you ended up like this?" she asks, while working.

"Not really" he answers honestly. He is not trying to be rude, but he really does not want to talk about it.

Emma just smiles and focuses on her task once more. When she is sure she has cleaned all his wounds, she discards all the used gauzes

"Thanks Emma."

"What about your leg?"

Dylan shrugs, trying to assure her that is not a big deal and she doesn't need to worry.

"I'll be fine, it's not hurting that much" he says, standing up.

He picks his jacket on the chair and puts it on. In truth, his leg is hurting like a bitch, but Emma doesn't need to know that. She has already done enough for him that night.

"I'm serious, I'll be fine" he insists, when he notices she is still giving him a suspicious glare "Now do me a favor. If Norman gets back before you go home, tell him I need to talk to him. It's something important and he's not answering his phone."

"Sure. I'll let him know" the girl says simply.

Dylan is not the talking type and he hates awkward silences, so instead of trying to make small talk with Emma, he just walks towards the exit, ready to leave. He stops by the door, though; his hand gripping the doorknob and he turns just enough to give her a small smile.

"Thanks again, Emma" he says quietly.

"You're welcome, Dylan."

He nods, then leaves without saying another word. Emma watches as he gets on his truck and drives away, disappearing down the road. Norman doesn't show up that night, so Emma writes a note saying that Dylan came by as wanted to talk to him and leaves it on the desk.

By 10:30 PM, she goes home. It's a quiet night and nothing happens on her way home.

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**An Author's Note**

**So, this is my first work for this fandom and I'm actually new here, so please be kind to me.**

**Anyway, this is a short chapter, but the next one should be longer and more elaborated.**

**Thanks for your attention, darling.**

_**~percico-feels**_


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